News

China is not a crafty solution

YOU suggest that the Crafts Council of Ireland (CCoI) encourages the outsourcing of craft production to China (Make it in China says crafts body, News, July 24).

I am obliged to point out that I told your journalist that CCoI did not encourage this.

Setting aside the fact that CCoI supports the craft industry to compete more effectively with low-cost imports in order to preserve craft manufacture in Ireland, it would be totally impractical for the council to suggest that craftspeople should outsource their production to any low-cost country, let alone China.

The unit cost of Chinese production might be low, but the volume of units needed to make commissioning production viable would require financing well beyond the means of the Irish craft companies who make up our client base.

There are ways to counter low-cost competition, but “making it in China” is certainly not one of them in terms